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Disassembling the Dreadnaught - Haywire Powers!

Ever since the Dreadnaught's release into Test Realm and then into Live Realm, the instance has been offering some of the most interesting weapons designed for lvl 70 in-game, each of these weapons carry two powers out of grand total of four available in them all. They can also be found in the Haywire companions from the Ashes of the Armada pack, allowing anyone with them access to these abilities without depending on equipment... however since they showed up many players wondered what these powers actually do and how they can work through questing and our PvP meta. And mind you, I found out they're quite complex... I studied them a bit and mean to clarify as much as possible in this thread.

By the way, you won't find the actual weapons here... if that's what you seek, please seek it somewhere else ---will add a link to an actual list when we have one. lol---

Haywire Strike and Haywire ShotAssembled by total Haywires!

These two are pretty much the main source of doubt among the community, due to their random nature. I'm sure it's what interests most of players so let's get into them. These are the two visual cards for the powers with the obvious conclusions one can get from seeing them:

The Haywire Strike
Melee weapon attack
Deals an amount of magical damage (regardless of Weapon type)
Single target ability
1x movement range while using it
Results in "unpredictable effects" to be discussed later

The Haywire Shot
Ranged weapon attack
Deals an amount of magical damage (regardless of Weapon type)
Single target ability
3 attack range while using it (regardless of weapon or talents)
Causes the target to be knocked back when possible

This power is found in all Dreadnaught melee weapons:Slashy combos
Smashly combos
Stabby combos

And also available to Haywire companions in different amounts:
Haywire Battle Angel (x1)
Haywire Dragoon (x1)
Haywire Marine (x3)

This power is found in all Dreadnaught musket weapons:
Shooty combos

And also available to Haywire companions in different amounts:
Haywire Battle Angel (x1)
Haywire Dragoon (x1)
Haywire Musketeer (x3)

Math behind the base Haywire damage:

As most of our in-game powers these numbers do not come at random, or "not at total random in their cards" might be a more accurate term in this case! The calculation behind their damage is quite... puzzling, to say the least. Any player or companion using these powers must play great attention to their stats, a general overview follows below:

NOTE: These formulas are used to calculate the Haywire Strike/Shot powers damage! They do NOT apply in any way to your final Weapon power or your other hits in combat, whatever using one of the Dreadnaught weapons or not.

Best balance for using Haywire powers and other weapons attacks as well.

Warning: Does not make use of your naturally high Will.

Best (if uneven) use of Haywire powers individually.

In very short terms: This power thinks you're using an Agility weapon.

As I've said, an quite puzzling structure only to get to a different result in each gameplay that tries to use one of these... also very intriguing from a company who has done so much to make their game simpler!

Haywire Strike...and its' unpredictable effects being narrowed down!

Studying the stats and the card under different circumstances I can tell:The actual damage of this power equals x1 Haywire base damage.
Basic formulas in the chart right above!Which is not the same as your usual Weapon Power for most classes despite being a weapon attack... you'll only equal it to your total Weapon if you're a swashbuckler/musketeer who's using an Agility based weapon. And only surpass it as swashbuckler wielding a Strength weapon.

As the description suggests, users of these powers can get random effects from the Haywire Strike power... being certainly the first power to be able to outcome so many different results. It seems there always one effect at play, but not always an easily visible one or managed to track down and fully understand. I have been while playing with these powers (from companions and gear) through different environment since they came into Live game, and I was able to confirm in a controlled space the existence of all effects I've seen during my experience with them, results as follows:

Random Damage

Stuns at random

The most common effect to happen yet the only one that cannot clearly be seen. This effect will randomly multiple the Haywire damage into an also random, yet very potential strike.

Testing the ability without any talents or buffs against targets with no appropriate defense (Resistance) at all, would usually result in very straight numbers according to the card's description... however Haywire has --without any doubt-- an extremely random factor to it, being able to hit almost up to x5 the damage indicated in the card, without critical either.

(the highest I managed to record while testing was x4.96)

Though remember this is a random ability, that's fully based on RNG... but during all my testing, I was able to see the power deal its' base damage only once, equivalent to a bit less than 2% of my attempts.

The lowest range I was able to record, not a whole lot was at x1.5 which seems to be the lowest possible when this factor is at play. Most hits will score some way above that and x2, but there does seem to be several set numbers that the hit can be based around, just like great amount of our RNG by KI (most simply score 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, etc... in a clear pattern) but this power is not absolutely bound to these factions being able to hit more diverse numbers slightly above or below their set mark.

This effect actually can work in 3 different ways, not all being pleasant:

Stun the target.

Stun the user.

Stun both target and user!

​So beware, you can stun yourself when using this... however these stuns are the first to be available as powers and play as such which means they work slightly different than other stuns we've seen so far:

When affected the target is stunned for the user's team turn duration. Basically half the round, they'll regain their epics as soon as their (the enemy's) team's turn starts.

When the power backfires stunning the player/unit, the user will be stunned until the enemy's turn ends, so the rest of that round until pets/allies/summons start making their moves.

In PvP both players, regardless of their side or who's first, will be stunned for the rest of the turn until the opponent's planning phrase. Essentially works like correctly stunning a target, though you can still be affected by the same duration.

Additional Chain

Stacking

This is actually a bit weird effect, even if it's something that is clearly happening I wasn't able to fully test this or figure out an exact calculation to its damage, simply because it happens randomly under circumstances very hard to manipulate (totally luck based) and then requires quite some record to calculate, plus I had a hard time taking pictures of it to keep track of progress. lol

This effect apparently gives you an extra strike after a hit chain. Basically when using the Haywire Strike power after you've done several hits triggered by epics, you'll have a chance at delivering an additional powerful blow to the target you originally selected.

This bonus hit shows up in a very hard-to-record shape, as a critical with no animation. In reality the user will be in the middle of moving out of their last final hit animation when a surprise critical number shows up to kill the target... and yes, the target does take damage and in many cases dies while we're sitting back down.

The damage it deals is pretty strong, but due to all buffs (to chain) and protections (for target not to die from chain) it becomes harder to get a clear number, a lot more to actually deduce the formula behind being that it seems quite random as well.

Anyway, the few damage records I was able to get from this effect in controlled arena ranged between x1.35 to x2.20, while I have seen it hit over 1000 against healthy enemies in PvE. Quite vague I know, if anyone happen to have numbers in an effect looking like this I would be happy to try them out!

This actually happens nearly all the time, but it seems most players don't realize. All the effects from the Haywire Strike can stack on top of each other from the same hit!

In essence stunning is working like that when it affects both user and target, they're separate outcomes that can happen at the same time, just the two other.

You can pretty stun your target and deal great damage, though that seems quite uncommon in my experience, usually my user will end up stunned (and the enemy might too) after hitting too well on a random Strike.

That suggests that there may be some balancing between damage and stunning, as lower damage often causes the target to be stunned, and higher damage might result in you being stunned. Even though I have seen the opposite happen in a few cases, it does less often to me.

Haywire Shot

...with its' everchanging size!

Haywire Shot is more generous in terms of giving out its information, even if not in a clear fashion. Its card actually can show you two different damage ranges without you changing a thing in your setup. Merely move your cursor over the power to check its stats and move it away to hide it, doing this (maybe a very few times) will get it to alternate its damage between the two possible outcomes it may get randomly. We can see this clearly in the two pictures below:

Basic Haywire ShotDamage equals x2 Haywire base weapon

Improved Haywire ShotDamage equals x3 Haywire base weapon

One may simply multiply the Haywire Strike's card damage by 2 or 3 to reach these values as well.

The knockback seems to be able to go up to 5 squares, as long as there's that much room. It CAN go through other units, though unlike push doubloons it won't damage those on the way.

Shield Smash

And this is the simplest power available in the Dreadnaught I think, in fact KI didn't even care to give it to the Haywire Marine, a shame really. It's very same thing as Ratbeard's Clear the Decks, and I do appreciate it being available to players as it's a cool utility AoE hit and a very nice image to illustrate it! But hopefully we can get a slightly more interesting version of it sometime in the future, until then I might hold my personal doubts if I would use one of these weapons to have this power.

The Shield Smash
Melee weapon attack
Deals an amount of physical damage (regardless of Weapon type) equal to x1 your total Weapon PowerAdjacent area-of-effect ability
1x movement range while using it
Causes all enemies around to be knocked back 1 square away from you

This power is found in all Dreadnaught shield weapons:
Certain Smashly combos

​Appearance is basically the final term in determining whatever a weapon is a shield or not. It should be fairly obvious.

Note: This power actually works with your usual Weapon Power, as in its' full total with proper boost-stat, just as much as it's displayed in your character screen.

Surge of Technomancy

Well, this power certainly caused some discussion among PvP players when it reached Test Realm, though that conversation seems to have died out... I guessed players figured out how it actually works as it isn't that much of a game-changer as it seemed, or perhaps they're simply considering it too rare/unpopular to be accounted for? Either way, here's how it looks like:

The Surge of Technomancy
Ranged weapon attack (yep, this isn't magical!)
Deals an amount of magical damage (regardless of Weapon type)
Single target ability5 attack range while using it (regardless of weapon or talents)Removes buff effect

This power is found in all Dreadnaught magical weapons:Staffy combos

And also available to the following Haywire companions:
Haywire Battle Angel (x1)
Haywire Dragoon (x1)

This power has two effects, and they'll both always happen without doubt, as long as they have something to affect. lol

DamageDamages the target dealing slightly more than a weapon attack.Can target hidden units.

Buff RemovalRemoves 1 (ONE) buff from the selected target. Whichever was the first/oldest to be cast.

I confess that out of PvP I just use this power as a long range hit (not a lot I think but the companions have only 3).

I hope my little overview of these powers can help someone consider or better understand the Dreadnaught weapons and Haywire companions!

Re: Disassembling the Dreadnaught - Haywire Powers!

This guide is pretty useful!
A lot of information here appears to be consistent with what I've found and/or observed.

Upon doing analysis for my Powers guide (which is a work-in-progress), I have obtained additional information that will provide more understanding on how these Powers work.
(Yes, I realize this guide is pretty old. It doesn't hurt to provide additional information, though, for guides like these.)

Terms needed to understand the following information:

Weapon Power ー refers to total Weapon Power before the Strength / Agility / Will boost.
Weapon Stat ー refers to which of the following stats your weapon is based on: Strength, Agility, or Will.

(the damage dealt by the second attack is directly affected by your total Weapon Power ー that is, your Weapon Power plus Weapon Stat bonus)

multiplier can either be 1, 2, or 3. estimated probabilities (based on 112 test runs):

～70% chance of a multiplier of 1

～20% chance of a multiplier of 2

～10% chance of a multiplier of 3

This means that a base damage roll with a multiplier of 4 is not possible.
To get the "5x damage" roll on Haywire Strike, one must roll a multiplier of 3 and a damage modifier / multiplier of 1.25.
This also means that factoring in critical hits, one may deal up to approximately 8 times the damage stated on the Power:

If the first hit activates Blade Storm by either defeating the target enemy or dealing a critical hit, then Blade Storm will activate before the second hit. The second hit then shows as a single hit on the targeted enemy.

Haywire Shot

Like with Haywire Strike, the main thing I analyzed with this Power is how much damage it deals.